Author: Rafinesque, 1810
Nerophis maculatus Rafinesque, 1810
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Nerophis maculatus Rafinesque, 1810 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: rings 20-23 + 65-74, D 24-29, subdorsal rings 4-2 + 4- 5. Colour: olive to reddish; males with 1-3 irregular rows of dark-margined spots on side of trunk and anterior half or more of tail, remainder of tail often with narrow pale bands; females with dark spots on upper parts of trunk and on tail, lower part of side of trunk with narrow scarlet bars and with 1-2 scarlet stripes ventrally. Size: to 30 cm TL.
Habitat: coastal waters. Food: no data. Reproduction: mostly brooding February-May; males with as many as 186 eggs (1.1-1.6 mm diameter) deposited in 3-4 rows on 12-19 trunk rings; early free-living young 11-12 mm TL.
Distribution: Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic including Portugal and the Azores; apparently most common in Adriatic and western Mediterranean.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. D'Ancona, 1933: 286.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.